re: Philosophical Discussion: Why does the far left keep winning and winning big?

It really is simple. Progress. Man kind has been marching toward progress since the earliest of our ancestors stood on their hind legs and thought "Damn, the view is nice from up here. My back hurts". The job of conservative ideology has always served as a brake on change for the sake of change and change that takes place to quick and causes more problems than it prevents. That is not a sexy role but it is the role of conservative ideology. The problem is that the right is not satisfied with their role any longer and would like nothing better to turn back the hands of time. Moderates on both sides of the middle and the far left are not remotely interested in turning back the hands of time...but a sizeable portion of those to the right of the moderates on the right are indeed interested in doing so. It ain't going to work...adhering to that failed plan will only serve to hasten the march to the left. That march is not, judging human history, to be stopped, only slowed to an acceptable pace. Mankind has been marching toward the left and progress since our beginning. There have been periods where the march was reversed but only for short periods of time. Change is one of few things which can be count on in life...conservative ideology serves as a governor on the speed of change. It is now more concerned with reversing direction instead of doing what it has done throughout man's history and instead of slowing change or reversing it the desire to reverse direction is hastening change. The course will eventually correct itself as it has always done when change occurred faster than was acceptable.

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For the same reason, the Nazis kept winning. A majority of the citizens of Germany wanted them in power.

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Not true. The Nazis never won more than 40% of the vote until they outlawed opposition parties. They came to power under the parliamentary system.

Why do Putin and Kim Jong Un keep winning?

Because somewhere along the lines the Republican Party became more bombastic than classy. There is no center to either party anymore. They are both full of fringe zealots.

I think at the root of it, leftism is an inherently lazy ideology that is easy to fall into. Think about it. One side of the aisle pushes individual liberty, working to improve yourself/taking responsibility for your life, private property, minimal interference from others.

The left tells people that no failure is your fault, someone else is to blame for every problem you face, if you want something whoever has more than you should give it to you, every thought and feeling is equally valid, true, and worth celebrating.

Is it any wonder people take that easy path?

That said, the right is its own worst enemy when they take ridiculous positions that are easily dismissed and drum up conspiracy theories about all Dems being pedophiles, Jewish space lasers, etc. The media pushes these loons as representing all Republicans and few people who are highly educated professionals want to be associated with that, which means that the suburbs of major cities have turned purple or light blue.

I haven't read this whole thread, but first wanted to say thank you for starting a thread like this.

There's been lots of folks already getting at the heart of it. I'll try to frame it up a little differently.

Conservatism in general, is the ant vs the grasshopper. Are we going to delay our immediate gratification for later so that we are prepared for future unseen actions? Or, do we just live like the grasshopper.

It's much easier being the grasshopper, and there is only really one flaw in the logic for someone so inclined - he is reliant on the ant's ability to produce and save. If the ants ever die off in great numbers, or they all turn into grasshoppers, then no one or not enough ants are left to produce the surplus for the grasshoppers to live on.

The grasshopper's (i.e. Leftism) whole philosophy is one that cannot sustain itself and is entirely reliant on feeding off of others.

Democracy without legal protections is an objectively horrible system.

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If you actually want the real answer, it's that everything has turned left since the Enlightenment. Even the American Revolution was a contemporarily leftist cause that overthrew a more ancient order. The egalitarianism that has now run amok can be traced all the way back to Jean Jaques Rousseau.

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He's not wrong